Student Newspaper Work

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STUDENT NEWSPAPER WORK 1

HARRIET A. LEE
New Trier Township High School, Kenilworth, Illinois

Miss Hinkley of North Dakota has described in a previous
number of the English Journal 2 the admirable experiment her
Dakota students made in writing for their town paper. It may
be interesting to her and to others to know what a Cook County
school has done in a similar line.

In our new high school, complete in every other detail, we
needed interior decoration. The walls of our long corridors and
of our new classrooms were bare. The parents would in time meet
this need as they had met every other need, but it seemed to me
that the moment had come for the students to do their part, expe-
rience elsewhere having convinced me that the oft-heard remark,
"The more students can do for their school, the more they will
love and respect it," is no empty adage. We had had a series of
themes in one class on what our school needed. "How Shall We
Raise the Necessary Funds ? " was the subject of a set of unusually
interesting articles in another class. Of all the suggestions made,
the most practical one was by a reader of the Chicago Tribune, who
proposed that the students try for the dollar prizes offered by that
paper for the best articles on such topics as "My Most Exciting
Moment," "My Most Embarrassing Moment," etc. This seemed
good as far as it went, but I wanted it to go farther.

At that time I was reporting school items for one of the North
Shore papers, the Lake Shore News, published in one of the villages
of the township and circulating more or less widely along the whole
North Shore. "Why not," I said to the editor, "offer prizes
yourself to the New Trier students? I venture to say you'll
increase your circulation; at any rate you will give an interesting

1 A paper read before the National Council of Teachers of English, Chicago,
Illinois, November 26, 1015.

2 "Motiving English Composition," English Journal, IV (April, 1915), 266.

164

STUDENT NEWSPAPER WORK 165

page to the parents, who are looking for results now from the money
they have expended for equipment."

"I will," he answered, "as long as the stories [I then and there
learned that story is the technical newspaper name for a short
article] are of community interest — no dry exercises on Dryden or
pre-Shakesperean drama," he added with a laugh, "something
readable, human. Oh, yes, and don't hand in everything you've
got; pick out the ten best or so." And thus the plan was made.

By agreement of the English instructors, ten themes of three
hundred words each were submitted to the paper twice a month,
the first date being reserved for the Freshmen and Sophomores,
the second for the Juniors and Seniors. Each instructor sent to
a committee of the faculty the three or four themes written by
her students that week which she considered the best, and from this
total of fifteen or twenty, ten were chosen. A Lake Shore News
committee selected the best three of these, giving a dollar as a first
prize, seventy-five cents as a second, and fifty cents as a third.
This money was saved till the end of the year, the amount earned by
each room being devoted to a picture for that room. The English
department chose the subjects for the different trials in advance
and made them the basis of regular theme work, so that no time
should be lost by reason of any extra demand. The program was
posted on the school bulletin board, along with the prize-winning
articles and the names of the winners, as they were made known.
As we began the contest in March, work appeared only seven
times before school closed. Only three types of articles were
attempted in these seven issues, each division of the school being
given a chance to try each type once. The variety of individual
subjects presented, however, was excellent. The program was
as follows:

March 5. Themes on various subjects, chiefly on those of
community interest. Freshmen and Sophomores.
March 26. The same subjects. Juniors and Seniors.
April 9. Topics of community interest; also articles on
"My Most Exciting Moment," "My Most Embar-
rassing Experience," and "How I Earned My First
Money."

1 66 THE ENGLISH JOURNAL

April 23, May 14. Verse, 12-30 lines.

May 28, June 1. Playlets or dialogue.

On June 18, the results of the experiment appeared in print.
A total of $15.75 had been earned, the money being distributed
in sums of $1 . 50, $3 . 75, $5 . 00, and $5 . 50, to the four rooms enter-
ing the contest. The Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior classes
received six prizes each; the Seniors, three. Nine students
received honorable mention in the form of having their themes
printed. The failure of the Senior class to receive more prizes
was due, not to the inferiority of the work, but to the fact that so
many of the best students were engaged in public contests of
various kinds that they were either excused from the regular theme
work or gave their best attention to their other activities; likewise
to the fact that the upper classes had one trial less than those lower.
The difference in degree of literary excellence between the upper
and lower classes was on the whole surprisingly slight, the Fresh-
man and Sophomore themes having a spontaneity and originality
which was about an even match for the greater maturity of those
by Juniors and Seniors.

As I read the various articles appearing in our paper I couldn't
help comparing them with the prize productions in the newspaper
which had given us our inspiration. The following is a fair type
of the Tribune "story" coming under the general head, "My Most
Embarrassing Moment Was When": 1

Asked the Dog's Pardon

One evening I was coming out of a hall where I had attended a dance. I
was greatly excited, as I had met there a man whose invitation I had refused
on the plea of illness. That was embarrassing enough, but just as I reached
the door a big dog popped out — he had been waiting outside for his master —
and I bumped into him. "Oh, excuse me," I apologized to the dog, and the
watching crowd roared.

Or, take this " Best Fish Story " appearing in the same number of the

paper.

Jumped into the Boat

While out fishing from a boat one time, my friend remarked that she wished
I would catch a large fish, as she had never seen any larger than minnows.
Just as she spoke the words a three and a one-half pound bass jumped out of

1 Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1914.

STUDENT NEWSPAPER WORK 167

the river right into her lap, which frightened her so she nearly fell into the
water. Somehow we managed to stay in the boat, fish and all, and later
enjoyed a good feast.

I do not wish to disparage these attempts, for I believe the

effort made by the paper is right; certainly, as I said, it gave us

our early inspiration; but after reading our selected themes I felt

there were heights to be gained in the public columns of our news

sheet. Compare, for instance, with the Tribune articles this one,

written by a thirteen-year-old young gentleman, who confided

to me after wading through the Evanston streets to join a party

I was chaperoning, "I know what I'm going to write about for

Monday."

The Wet Sidewalks of Evanston 1

If I were going out walking with a young lady in the Spring, I should not
go to Evanston. I should be forced to perform the Sir Walter Raleigh stunt
with my new spring overcoat too many times to suit my father's bank account.
Last year's flood of the Ohio was nothing compared to those sidewalks.

It might be all right if you had a pair of hip boots, but rubbers are as good
as useless and worse, because when you come to an island your feet are still
submerged in the water which occupies the spare room in your rubbers. I
think the city of Evanston ought to furnish ferry-boats and also life preservers
hung at frequent intervals along the river.

If the water on those sidewalks were transported to the Sahara, that desert
would become the Garden of Eden. An ordinary aeroplane would be of no
use in Evanston; it would have to be a hydro-aeroplane.

Anyone who knows "classic Evanston" in wet weather knows
that the lad has voiced the citizen's plaint.

Again, take this paragraph from a theme by a Junior girl.

My First Impressions of Wilmette 2

But as for men. Didn't Wilmette have any ? It was a manless town.
Not a being of masculine gender over ten was to be seen on the street; not
a man's voice was to be heard; even father declared his intention of leaving
at once. Tears rose to my eyes at the thought of a manless existence. But
we were somewhat comforted on being informed that they had merely emi-
grated to the city for the day and would return ere nightfall.

Or, here is the beginning of a second-prize story, this being,
as one might infer, by a Freshman.

1 Lake Shore News, March 5; article by James Logie.
3 Ibid., article by Gertrude Taber.

168 THE ENGLISH JOURNAL

How I Earned My First Money 1
Money! That was something that only older people could have. As
children we were never allowed to have money. When it was given to us, it
was chucked away in our bank, even before we saw it; and my desire was to
carry money.

The dialogue presented was the least successful of the various
types tried. The verse was better. Some lines on a burning trial
of the North Shore, "In Gas Meter, with Apologies to Mother
Goose," awakened no little interest. It began thus:

A North Shore Episode 2

There was a man in our town

Who was not wondrous wise.
He tried to read by North Shore gas,

And ruined both his eyes.

And when he found his sight impaired,

He swore with might and main,
And then installed electric light

And got his sight again.

There was a maid in our good town,

Who was noted for her cakes.
She tried to cook with North Shore gas

And only got — headaches.

Some Freshman verse on "School Days" was realistic: 3

Going to bed is bad enough,

But getting up is worse;
Hearing father's voice just now,

Is what inspired this verse.

My motorcar [which]

I couldn't well afford
It had an awful appetite and ate up all my hoard.

added to the many incidents about the Ford, and a humorous poem

in which

Editor, now why this rews

To send young mortals after news ?

brought a first prize to a Junior.

1 Lake Shore News, April 9; article by Jesse Gathercoal.
3 Ibid., April 29, 1915; verse by Roy Holmes.

3 Ibid., May 14; verse by Winifred Reinboth.

STUDENT NEWSPAPER WORK 169

Some News'

Oh, dear, I wish I knew some news,

That would some interest infews
Within the judge so he might uews

My slanderous, bright, or kindly news.

These crazy thoughts my brain confews,

And I king's English do abews,
Ah me, why am I such a gews ?

With the different issues of the paper, the instructors of the
department did not always, I confess, agree with the editor's choice
of best articles, but remembering the dictum originally stated that
only bright and lively news "would some interest infews," we were
on the whole able to understand why a lyric on "Bob White" or
"To a Bluebird" had to yield precedence to "The Woman and
the Vote" or "The Real Reel."

With regard to the result of this experiment, this much is
certain. We have four good pictures (framed out of school funds)
among which are Whistler's "Carlyle," Gainsborough's "Mrs.
Siddons," and Dickson's "Swift and Stella," which is very popular.
We have, or we had while the contest continued, an exceedingly
vivid interest in composition, shown in better quality of material
and more accurate workmanship. We have even some gain in
school spirit and altruism, for some of the students (those, we trust,
whose money had been "chucked away" in the bank by the adults)
thought they should have the proceeds themselves, but saw a new
light when their fellow-students suggested worthier considerations.

What the community gained by seeing its own affairs treated
by the young folks, I cannot wholly say, but it seems to me that
there was some gain. The fire departments of the suburbs cer-
tainly received some ludicrous knocks from which they should
have profited.

"To complete this wonderful outfit" [one student wrote of the
equipment in a wealthy hamlet 2 ] it also has a hand-ax and a dinner
bell. The firemen consist of the .... police force, two able-
bodied men. When they get tired of pushing or pulling this

1 Ibid., April 28; verse by Mary Gallagher.

2 Ibid., March 5; article by Elvin Sipes.

170 THE ENGLISH JOURNAL

contrivance, one of them rings this bell. It has been known to have
been rung twice in one block."

Moving pictures, the police force in the township, and the
detestable car service of the Milwaukee Electric Road where, when
"the conductor yells 'New Trier,' you are lifted bodily from your
feet and shot forth as from a sling, only to stop against the hard
surface of the station platform," were some of the subjects treated.

Copies of the paper were sometimes sent to the companies
causing the grievance.

New Trier High School, like all schools, is a busy place, with
constant incentives to competition with other schools; and because
there were so many outside demands last year the experiment
was not then continued. There is no reason, however — our
friendly editor agreeing — why our press writing should not be con-
tinued another year, why we should not enlarge our scope, send
in editorials on matters of state and national interest, letters of
travel, courteous letters of complaint, if you will, verse of many
kinds, and good jokes.

The day when the community as a whole turns out for the
"last day of school" to hear the pupils perform is largely past,
but the community still wishes to know what is the result of all
the effort with theme paper and pens, and the newspaper furnishes
this means. Moreover, our North Shore editor would say, and
I believe the Dakota editor would also say, that he is getting an
attractive feature for his paper at slight cost — a cost that is com-
paratively small even at two dollars and twenty-five cents a column.
Then, too, the inspiration to a student of seeing his name and work
in a paper of standing which he can send to his relatives is no small
one. The mature writer may be content "to write one article
a day for his grate fire"; the younger student wants more tangible
and more speedy results, and he needs the inspiration of them.
The average school paper cannot print, or at. least should not be
able to print, all the best themes in a year, nor can the instructor
read all of a week's product in the composition hour, or even always
post them.

As I peruse, if I can bother to peruse, "Coincidences I Have
Known," "Were You Ever Nearly Drowned?" "What Feet

STUDENT NEWSPAPER WORK 171

Secrets Have You?" "Would You Marry Your Mate Again?"
("Send your letters in care of Doris Blake"), I have a wider inspi-
ration. Why not let our schools co-operate with our larger papers
in filling the columns open to the public, not only in writing on sub-
jects now prescribed, for these savor too much of the sentimental,
sensational type, but in asking for other subjects and in ourselves
setting some standards of style ? The average student of today
reads the newspaper more than he reads the good magazine.
According to no less a critic than Dr. Canby, of Yale, 1 he gets good
reading in the journalistic columns, excellent reading, of which no
American need be ashamed. Let him also get good reading in the
columns open to Americans at large; and if he can also feel that
he is having a share in making these columns good, so much the
better. We are doing something along this line in the Lake Forest
College contests, especially in the letter-writing contest where,
this past year, the friendly letters penned were actually sent to the
persons addressed; but the Lake Forest contest reaches at most
only the contestants and the delegates from schools near enough
to come easily. We can do more.

America agrees with Europe that America must have a great
criticism before it can have a great literature. As yet we have no
great criticism, and no great literature, though in certain lines of
fiction and in the journalistic field we undoubtedly surpass (to
quote Dr. Canby again) our continental colleagues. We have
done much in our public schools to produce both good themes and
good criticism of them, but may we not have more universal stand-
ards, and wider knowledge of what our neighbors do? To my
mind, this is perfectly feasible throughout the country by friendly
co-operation with our news sheets, which are, after all, only larger
editions of the early columns which the friendly Addison and the
genial coffee-houses made prosperous.

1 "Current Literature and the Colleges," Harper's Magazine, July, 1915.